the roses are smelling good

my wine course midterm came and went .. i got an A+. :) the instructor said i did well. i couldn't believe how well i did on the tasting component. the written component was pretty straight forward. i remember when i was studying for the final on my previous course, i over-studied and couldn't remember the characteristics of tempranillo, malbec, and grenache. i was so bummed afterwards. i still did well in the course but i was disappointed in myself for completely blanking out on those three grape varieties.

for the second course, there were more grape varieties to remember .. some i've learned for the first time .. like albarino, silvaner, and gruner veltliner. yeah, like what the heck are those? :)

i'm going to be sad when this course ends. i really learned a lot and i am finding it better than course 1. for example, did you know that wines from sancerre are made from the sauvignon blanc grape type? but a sancerre will taste and smell different compared to sauvignon blancs from new zealand. sauvignon blancs from new zealand give off a fresh cut grass aroma but you won't get that from a sancerre. i think that's what makes sauvignon blancs from new zealand a lot better. :) pair it with some goat cheese and you have a match made in heaven.

next up is vinification. this is a saturday course. aiy .. getting up for 8:30 am? i haven't done that since university! i know i said i might take the food and wine pairing course along with vinification but i may change my mind and go with the beer course instead. since it's a summer term .. what better than to take a beer course? :)

our monthly food adventure to the Lindenhof was good. i'd give it 7 out of 10. i wasn't blown away by the food like i was at the cheshire cat pub, but it was decent. it wasn't decent enough for us to want to order dessert. next on the list is a restaurant called Absinthe.

in other news, i also tried out for the westboro badminton club recently. the club is strictly for strong intermediate or advanced players. i've been looking for an advanced club to play at for a while now because i don't want to pay the hefty annual membership at the RA. the folks at westboro have already told me that i'm a strong enough player so we'll see ..

i still have to think about my next trip back to toronto. i haven't been back since christmas so i know i'm due but things are just so busy around here with school and work. maybe i'll visit after my course ends in April. cuz after that, the madness starts all over again. this time with two courses. oh yeah, if my contract gets renewed .. we've already been told that vacations will be on hold until november due to project demands. lovely, eh? i haven't been on vacation in almost three years. i would love to just get away but now is not the time.

i'll see whether i can plan something for a long weekend during the summer. ideas are welcomed. :)